The purpose of this blog is for me to share my experiences as an artist with all who are interested. I will be posting paintings and drawings and information about the inspiration and creation of them. I hope you enjoy your readings.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

This is the first stage of painting a white lily that we are working on in my Watercolor Class at the Classroom in the Art Space in Pembroke Mall. I am changing the day of the class to Saturday on October 2nd. It will be from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. I will have a class on every Saturday in October except for October 16th as I will be at the Stockley Garden Art Show that weekend.

Tomorrow Sunday September 26th, I will be at the monthly Open House for the Art Space and I will be demonstrating the White Lily as well as a large painting that I'm working on for Stockley Gardens.

I have just moved many of my paintings into Artistic Creations also at the Art Space at Pembroke Mall. I will be painting there Saturday afternoons after the art class.

The white lily is a study in painting white. I have begun by putting in very "light" colors to shape the flower. Tomorrow I will put in some slightly darker colors into the flower and start working on the stem, bud, leaves as well as the stamens. Then, in the next class, I will put in the background in a significantly darker color mixture that will make the white flower pop. The final step will be to add a little bit of white gouache to capture some of the details.

I really want to work on painting it now and can hardly wait to paint it! But I need to wait until tomorrow or else I'll have to paint another!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Here are the Roses for my Mom. I really enjoyed painting them. Very detailed.

Right now I'm painting a large (22 x 30) painting of a dozen roses. So far it's coming out good. It has over a hundred leaves and will take a long time to finish but I hope that I will have it done for the Stockley Gardens Art Show October 16th and 17th.

I am really enjoying painting flowers right now and I feel that I've recently made great progress in my technique. I feel like my paintings are more realistic and more three dimensional than they were. And I have found a confidence in my painting that I have not experienced before.

My mother loved flowers, especially roses. When I'm painting them I feel as if my love for her is experientially there and hopefully shows through the painting itself.

Friday, September 17, 2010

I've added a gallery to my blog as I'm sure some of you have found it. You can click on it right at the top of the right side of the page. I wanted to be able to put some of my newer paintings all together in a place where they can be seen. It is a work in progress, like so many things in my life. But I wanted to work out the other page format before I get back into my teaching mode. Check out the gallery and if you have any suggestions as what to add I'd love to hear them.

I hardly can wait to start my teaching as I have so many new ideas of ways to present materials. If you are interested in any of my classes they are listed on the right side of my blog. You can certainly make a comment or email me at katsart01@yahoo.com and I will be happy to answer your questions.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

I have been in an unusual frame of mind lately as I have not been able to decide what I want to paint. I have many ideas for paintings but none have really excited me. I'm tired of repainting subjects for art shows. I am doing Stockley Gardens in October and I need some new and exciting themes to paint to put in that show. I found a picture of three roses that I'm going to work on in a square format. I think that I'm getting excited about painting it. We'll see how it goes!

I have been painting flowers for a long time. Roses are very challenging but I keep going back to them. They are absolutely beautiful and the remind me so much of my mom. She had about 50 rose bushes in her gardens. And they were magnificent. I really miss her and I think that painting roses is a way of staying close to her.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

This is my latest painting. I have been able to work it with no deadlines and have totally enjoyed painting it. Again I must say that pleasure is a factor that contributes to the quality of a painting.

I have worked on the three dimensionality of it paying special attention to the light and shadows. I think it has allowed me a most valuable learning experience and I am very pleased with the results. Unfortunately the photo does not do it justice.

While painting this picture I again was drawn to realistically capturing the visuality of the bud and the many leaves. (I think there were about 36 leaves in it!) I am continually pulled to do more abstract work and yet I strive to create pieces that are realistic. I enjoy painting more abstract backgrounds but usually for the foreground I'm compelled to paint it realistically. I really do not know yet whether to go with my realistic tendencies or force myself to try and do more abstract work. What do you think?

I have two weeks until my teaching schedule picks up again. And I have not accomplished much on my to do lists. But I'm starting to think about my upcoming classes and what I hope to achieve with them.

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About Me

I am an artist and I work out of my studio in Virginia Beach. I have worked in many different media including: oil, acrylic, watercolor, graphite, charcoal and colored pencils. My favorite medium is watercolor. I love the way it flows. The colors are magnificent and the textures are exciting. Come and share my paintings and my drawings on my blog. I hope that you enjoy them half as much as I have enjoyed creating them.